Mystery surrounds the death of a Harare man who escaped a jail term due to his mental state after the 2019 murder of his girlfriend.
Richard Nenhowe was pardoned in 2020 by a High Court judge who ruled that he was mentally unstable when he strangled his girlfriend, Angela Dapi, to death. The two had planned a weekend getaway at a local hotel where Richard also attempted suicide after killing Angela.
Richard received emergency medical attention at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals under police guard before facing trial.
However, six years later, Richard, who according to relatives was still haunted by his actions, committed suicide on Saturday.
A close relative confirmed the death to H-Metro.
“Yes, its true, Richard committed suicide on Saturday and we buried him on Sunday.
“He was a reserved young man, we have lost a son and his death came as a blow to the whole family.
“We had hoped he had gotten over some of his issues but it seems he was still fighting his demons,” said one of Richard’s uncles who spoke on condition of anonymity. At the time of her death, Angela was a third year Fashion and Design student at the Chinhoyi University of Technology.
In an earlier interview, friends of the late Angela described Richard as an abusive man.
It was claimed that Richard had cheated on Angela and the latter started seeing a classmate before the former found out.
When the two were trying to work things out that’s when Richard invited Angela to Harare where he strangled her to death at Elizabeth Hotel.
Meanwhile, a close source said Richard would tell them he was seeing Angela’s ghost.
“He would say that Angela was asking him to go kuno ripa ngozi but since Richard was not working, his relatives didn’t want to help him.
“So, the ghost was tormenting him until he committed suicide,” said the source.
The source added that, by the time he committed suicide, he was hapless.
“Richard committed suicide while he was having some drinks with some other guys.
“He was not able to buy some beers for himself.
“She (Angela) didn’t want him to die, but she wanted Richard kuripa ngozi.
“Four weeks, achingotambudzika and munhu aiti ndiripei, endai kunababa vangu.
“Richard aingoti akamwa doro akutochema and akada kurara masikati chero Manheru mukadzi otouya.
“Kungorara hope, ma1 atanga mukadzi auya.”
Another close source said, on the day Richard died, he was having some drinks with his colleagues. “He drank a pill and died a small distance from the drinking place.
“So, his people had no mercy when he was being buried, they pushed his coffin, angry that he could have also killed them had they shared spiked beer.
“He was denying that he had downed the pills, and he was now vomiting.
“The problem now is that his ghost might haunt the community while his unresolved crime will also be a nightmare. We already fear the worst because people battled to remove his coffin from the hearse,” added the source.
